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photon · 09-12-2008, 01:26 PM

Usually an external HDD is as simple as plug and play. Usually you can get them in either USB or eSATA. USB is pretty slow and transferring large files does take a lot of time, but of course once they're there then it's not that big a deal.

eSATA is faster as it uses the same interface that newer computers use for their main hard drives (SATA), but not all computers come with an eSATA port on them. You can also buy an eSATA add-in card.

Most external HDDs are USB only, and the few that are eSATA usually support USB as well.

You can use the drive in any way you want (backup and storage), usually when doing backup activities it just puts the files in a special format in a specific place. As to the size it depends on the software, some backup software will compress the files while copying them over, but the biggest files (media files like images and porn movies aren't very compressable so it's of questionable value.

So if you have a 250GB main drive, get a 500GB external drive and then you can do a full backup and still double your storage.

09-12-2008, 01:26 PM	#7
photon The new goggles also do nothing. Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Calgary Exp:	Usually an external HDD is as simple as plug and play. Usually you can get them in either USB or eSATA. USB is pretty slow and transferring large files does take a lot of time, but of course once they're there then it's not that big a deal. eSATA is faster as it uses the same interface that newer computers use for their main hard drives (SATA), but not all computers come with an eSATA port on them. You can also buy an eSATA add-in card. Most external HDDs are USB only, and the few that are eSATA usually support USB as well. You can use the drive in any way you want (backup and storage), usually when doing backup activities it just puts the files in a special format in a specific place. As to the size it depends on the software, some backup software will compress the files while copying them over, but the biggest files (media files like images and porn movies aren't very compressable so it's of questionable value. So if you have a 250GB main drive, get a 500GB external drive and then you can do a full backup and still double your storage. __________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one.